Taang Week 2013
by Child of Darkness and Chaos
Summary: My attempt at writing for this year's Taang Week. Hope you enjoy. Day 1: Regret; Day 2: Balance; Day 3: Manners; Day 4: Family; Day 5 Tattoos
1. Chapter 1

_Regret_

She was hesitant to leave out the window, even though she would be getting the freedom she was waiting for for so long. She didn't know why though, she's been dreaming of this for so long. Toph was extremely puzzled, her parents meant well enough, but they were overbearing and overzealous in keeping her safe from the outside world. Being outside, she imagined, would be just perfect, doing whatever she wanted, bending without a care of whoever was looking at any time and getting to explore the world her parents tried so hard to keep her from. What was keeping her from that? She shook her head, trying to dispel her hesitance; this was the chance of her lifetime! Maybe even once in a lifetime now since her parents found about her hidden activities…

With that in mind, she shook her head to erase her doubt and jumped down her window. Immediately upon landing on the ground, she ran to the walls and with a bit of bending, traveled under it and came out on the other side, running to meet Twinkle toes.

_-1-First Day-1-_

When she entered the forest, her feet stumbled a bit. That feeling was back, stronger than before. She growled, she was as sturdy as the earth she bended, she didn't hesitate on doing anything she wanted to do! She ran faster to prove to herself that she'd get over it and leave in no time at all. The feeling just grew stronger every time her foot hit the ground. She was getting angrier and angrier as well and suddenly stopped slamming her foot into the ground, causing several rocks to erupt from the ground around her. She breathed heavily for a bit, her eyes narrowed and her brows scrunched up together, This was starting to annoy her. She was so close to her ticket out of this place, she could feel the group in front of her, and some little feeling that was knocking on the back of her skull was keeping her from it. She stomped her foot again, what was with this! Was she afraid of leaving her home, her parents? She nearly scoffed at the thought, she wasn't the flower child her parents had thought her, nothing could scare her. But then maybe she was a bit sad that she was leaving her parents, knowing that she might miss them, despite their attempts to keep her lock inside the house...

She huffed as she began to take one more step to her destination; she was getting too sentimental for her tastes. The stupid feeling however kept knocking. Well it could keep knocking Toph thought, she was getting out of here.

She was just getting out of the clearing as she felt that Twinkle toes' group was leaving. She ran faster, already panting from running so long in the night.

"Toph!" Twinkle toes shouted, having seen her. "What are you doing here?"

She came to a stop next to the monk's bison before she spoke.

"My dad changed his mind, he said I was free to travel the world." She lied, but she couldn't help but feel a sort of smile coming on her face. Her desire was coming true and that annoying feeling was getting smaller.

"Well we better get out of here before your dad changes his mind again." Spoke the water tribe boy.

She nodded her head, "Good idea."

"You're going to be a great teacher Toph" and somehow she felt better with what Twinkle toe said.

But… "Speaking of which, I want to show you something."

"Okay" and as he jumped down from his bison, Toph struck the ground with her foot and sent the airbender flying before right as he landed on the floor. Payback always felt good.

"Now we're even." She smiled as he hung by his legs on a tree's branches.

"Um I'll take the belt back" Toph held out her hand for said item.

She could just feel the water tribe member's irritation as he unbuckled her belt. What she didn't feel was the belt's path in the air.

"Ow!" She said as she fell on the ground with her possession on her head.

"Sorry"

Her only consolation was that Twinkle toes landed on his back second later. "Uhhh!"

It was a while before the pain in her head became bearable and she could get up.

"What the heck was that for!" She raised a fist at the guy.

"Hey I said I was sorry!"

"Well sorry doesn't cut it!"

Toph would've bended a stone at the teen, had it not been for a certain Avatar in front of her.

"C'mon Toph you know he didn't mean it." Aang spoke with a soft voice.

"Hmmph" She closed her eyes and turned from him to face Appa. "Whatever let's just go." She didn't want to wait for that feeling to get stronger again or for her father to show up.

The air bender shifted awkwardly for a bit before offering his hand to her. "Well glad to have you aboard Sifu Toph."

Toph opened an eye and moved to where he was at. She could feel his hand held up in the air waiting for her to shake. The earth bender stared at it for a bit before relenting.

"Glad to be here, now let's go." If she could see, she would've saw the mischievous smile creep up on Aang's face. But she did feel sort of like she was getting lighter and lighter.

"Hey what are-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as she and the boy in front of her was propelled up in the air. Her sudden blindness frightened her a bit before she gathered her nerve and was about to yell at the boy in front of her, but by then she was already seated on Appa with the boy already laughing.

She felt heat coming onto her face, so she hid it by turning her face to the side and punching the air bender on the arm. "Shut it Twinkle toes."

Yet she couldn't deny that there was also a smile on her rosy-colored face. Or that the annoying feeling was gone.

She knew she wouldn't regret leaving with Twinkle toes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the late updates, I lost the flash drive that held these stories so I'm working on writing more. Hope to get both Manners and Family up tomorrow.**

* * *

_Balance_

Aang didn't want to complain but it was hard being the Avatar. On the surface being the Avatar is prestigious and a title that earns you the respect and attention of most people in the world. Being able to master all four elements also seemed like an incredible thing to do right? Well that was just a glance, but if you really look at it, it was a difficult job given to just one kid. Aang had to train rigorously in the elements, admittedly some of them being easy for him, but for earth and fire bending, the training was just back breaking and frustrating. The title had given him the respect and attention it normally called for in people, but it also distanced him from his own people. The airbender could never forget the pain he felt when his friends didn't want to play with him anymore because it would "unfair" for anyone playing against Aang. He was still the same kid they knew and grew up with, he wasn't any different than he was the day before; he was still the same ol' Aang. But none of them could see that, they just continued playing their game without him.

To top it all off, he was the person people looked to to stop the Fire Nation. It was unreasonable, how could a twelve year old boy, Avatar or not, be able to defeat the Fire Lord with an army of fire benders behind him!? And now people accused him of being coward, not that he could blame them though, he had run away after all.

Why did things have to be the way they are?

The monk sighed and opened his eyes to look at the top of his tent. What he wouldn't give for things to be different. It was no use thinking about it now he thought, he just had to make the best of the situation and do his duties as the Avatar. As he got up to exit the tent he couldn't help the fleeting thought, _'I wish I could still be a kid too…'_

The sunlight glared at his face, causing him to cover his eyes while they adjusted to the brightness of their surroundings. He gave a quick look over of their camp site to see if there was anyone else up. Sokka's and Katara's tents were still up and Sokka was definitely asleep because Aang could hear his loud snoring from his own tent. Katara might be up and getting ready for the morning, but so far there were no signs of her being awake. When his gaze turned to Toph's tent, he found nothing but disturbed earth in its place. _'Guess that Toph's awake,' _after having completed his inspection he looked for a pouch and fished a couple of fruit from it. He didn't so much as eat his food as much as he absent-mindedly nibbled on it. His mood was still down from his thoughts early in the morning, which was why he didn't expect a young earthbender to appear behind him. "Whaa," a rough hand had slapped onto his shoulder causing him to spit some pieces of fruit from his mouth. The startled airbender quickly swallowed and turned his face to look up into the face of Toph Beifong.

"What's up Twinkle toes?"

"You are sifu Toph."

She snorted, "No duh, but really what's going on with you."

He turned his face away looking down on the fruit in his hand, "Nothing" he mumbled.

The earthbender removed her hand and crossed her arms. "Sure and I can't tell if you're lying." She said dryly.

He looked sheepish for a second before resuming his sullen mood. Toph waited for a second before shrugging and uncrossed her arms. "Whatever its your life," and with that she strolled over to the pouch where the meat was at as the other two members of the group were finally rising from their sleep.

_-2- Second Day -2-_

It was sometime in the afternoon when Toph had dragged him for his eartbending lessons. Literally she dragged the arrow-tattooed monk with a fistful of his shirt while he was feeding Appa and Momo. Aang had let out yelp and dropped the fruits in him arms, causing them to crash into the floor where an eager lemur quickly pounced on it.

"Toph you know I can walk right?" he spoke as his legs dragged across the Earth. He had learned a while ago that no matter how much he struggled he would never get free from her grip and that she would eventually earthbend his behind straight to the training spot if he kept it up.

"I know Twinkle toes I have eyes don't I." Her answer caused him to roll his eyes, leave it to his sifu to give a joke instead of an answer. They said nothing else for the remainder of the trip, save for the occasional ow Aang gave when his legs bumped over rocks.

The pupil soon heard the sound of water but paid it no mind since Toph usually chooses areas where there were rocks and more chances of getting broken bones. "Well here we are," and with that she unceremoniously let go of his shirt and let his back fall to the ground. He was always annoyed when she did that. Nevertheless he got up and forgone wiping his pants of the dust and dirt they gathered as they were just going to get dirty again whenever Toph was involved. He stood in his spot and noticed that they were the river he had heard.

"So what's on today's lesson sifu?"

"I'm not telling you yet but for now close your eyes."

He would be lying if he said that the idea didn't scare him. There were so many things that she could do to him while he couldn't see. She could punch him in stomach, earthbend him in the air, sink him in the ground, or lock him place, all while she didn't have to worry about him reacting fast enough to evade what she was doing. Soon though she began glare at him with those grayish jade eyes. He shivered under her blind scrutiny. Knowing better than to defy her for long, he snapped his eyes shut and prayed she wouldn't hurt him too bad.

He heard her move around a bit, but other than that there was no sound. Not even the sound of rocks coming up from the ground. He was curious as to what she was doing, almost enough so to peek, but he kept them close like a good potential victim.

"Okay you can open them now."

And just as he was opening them, brown filled his sight.

"Aghh! Toph what is this!" he yelled as he was swiping the substance from his eyes.

"What does it feel like Twinkle toes," he could hear the smirk in her voice.

He didn't answer immediately as he was too busy to get his sight back. When he finally did and saw what covered his hands he spoke.

"Mud…"

The earthbender rolled her eyes. "What you thought I threw something else at you."

The airbender however just looked at her thought, "Really Toph mud."

"Yup and there's more where that came from!"

This time the squishy earth found its mark on his shirt.

He frowned, "C'mon Toph stop that."

"Nope" and another slop struck his chest.

"Toph"

Another struck.

"Really"

Another

"Toph"

Splat

"STOP!"

"Then come and get me." She grinned

Having had enough of her antics, he ran to the riverside where she's been getting her ammunition from, while dodging more of her shots.

He came out when a few more stains on him, but he finally made it to the river. He quickly scooped a handful of mud and threw it as fast as he could.

It landed right on her shoulder. It felt good to finally get her.

She merely looked at and shrugged. "Good shot," and then she threw another piece of mud, barely missing him from his ear.

Seeing that the game was still on, Aang decided to remain on the offensive. He sent another barrage at her just as she was sending her own.

It wasn't long before Aang's anger dissipated and he found that he was getting into this. They ducked and jumped to the side to avoid the other's shots and retaliated with their own when they could. It was nice letting loose like this. They soon got to bending up cover to take refuge from their opponent, making the game look like more snowball fight with mud and rocks. Eventually chuckles and laughter escaped their lips as they popped out from behind their cover to pelt each other with mud.

When the game finally ended they were both covered from head to toe in mud. They didn't care though as they fell to the ground across from each other, their arms outstretched and laughter filling the air.

They laid there even after they stopped laughing, relaxing from the "lesson". Aang for the first time today had felt happy and had forgotten about troubles with being the Avatar.

"Hey Toph"

"Yea"

"Thanks for cheering me up." He smiled.

"Don't mention it Twinkles." A smile was also on her face too.

With that he closed his eyes and thought that maybe being the Avatar wasn't so bad, after all he had Toph there to balance out all of the seriousness in his duties with moments like this.

"Hey Aang"

"Yea"

"Wanna go prank Snoozles"

Yup he thought, being the Avatar wasn't all that bad.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a silent stroll between Aang and Toph as they wandered Ba Sing Se. The gang had been doing nothing but staying under the Da Li's radar while looking for where Appa may be hidden by Long Feng. So far they came up with nothing, not even a hint on where the large sky bison could be. This was of course grating on the Avatar's nerves, but it was also getting to Toph too. She still felt angry at the airbender for yelling at her something she could do nothing about, at least not without getting her friends killed, but unbeknownst to him she sort of, kind of felt a little bit guilty for losing Aang's friend. She knew she wasn't responsible for his capture, but he meant a lot to Aang and hearing him cry like that on Katara's shoulders, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic to him.

He was walking down a street with Toph, his footstep heavier than they normally were. It was getting darker as night began to creep in the world while he was busy being worried about Appa. Was he okay, was he hurt, was he safe or is he being tortured. The possibilities just gnawed away at Aang from the inside out. He just wanted his best friend to come back.

That was he heard bunch of slurring and broken fits of giggles. He broke from his sad reverie to look up at the noise: four guys stumbling into each other while drinking. He looked around for any alley or another road to take but found none. He didn't want to get into any trouble tonight so he tried to make himself as small as possible when they were walking past each other.

Unfortunately Toph and one of the guys bumped into each other causing them both to fall down. Aang could only just grimace and palm his face; this wasn't going to be a peaceful night.

"Hey watch where you're going!" the irate earthbender yelled as she got off the floor.

The guy was struggling to get up while his buddies came to his defense.

"Maybe you should watch where you're *hic* going girly!"

"Yea you saw him walking didn't ya, ya stupid brat!"

The last one frowned trying to look as stern as possible while swaying to the left and to the right.

Toph scoffed, "I didn't so much as see him as smelled him, ever heard of a bath before" she sneered.

A blood vessel appeared on the guy's head, "Why you dumb kid your mouth's gonna get ya in trouble if don't wise up."

"Yea and what are you going to do about it old man."

"That's it," all four of them began to roll up their sleeves "we're gonna teach you some manners you little brat!"

Aang chose now to try and stop a fight from happening.

He held up his hands as he got in between the cocky earthbender and angry drunken men.

"Hey now let's just forget about this and go our separate ways. There's no reason for fighting."

"Hmmph, unless you want bruises boy I'd suggest you let your girlfriend fight her own battles" came the gruff reply.

The airbender blushed scarlet "She isn't my girlfriend!"

Toph pushed the Avatar to the side "Let me handle this Twinkle toes."

"Twinkle toes?" the four men chorused. They looked at each other briefly before guffawing.

"Hahaha is that your pet name from her boy? Twinkle toes! Hahahaha!"

"It's not, Toph why did you have to call me that!?"

"Man up Twinkle toes, it's just a nickname."

"It is your pet name after all!" The men laughed.

A blushing Aang just looked down "No it isn't".

"All right that's enough making fun of the bald kid, let's do this!" she announced before slamming her foot to the ground.

A pillar of earth erupted from the ground and sent one of the four flying into a wall becoming unconscious on impact. Alarmed the remaining three ceased their laughing fit and ran headlong towards the blind bender. Grinning, the earthbender sent a small shockwave through the floor, causing the group in front of her to trip face first. With a chop to the side they went soaring into the air back down path they came from.

She felt their vibrations as they landed and "saw" them as they proceeded to run away.

"Running away from a twelve year old girl, come back here and fight like men you chickens!" She taunted.

"Toph let them go, they already lost. Let's just head back to the camp site alright?" The neglected airbender spoke up.

The earthbender snorted and turned away from the direction of the three, "Whatever they didn't put up a good fight anyways" and with that she left.

Aang could only sigh at her "manners" and follow her.

_-3- Third Day -3-_

The walk back to the house was a silent affair. Aang could only look at his grey-jade eyed friend as she walked in a brisk pace, obviously bored, her eyes looking blankly at the space in front of her and a frown on her face telling him that she wanted to do something to happen to relieve her mood. He would've offered to spar with her, but he's felt a rift between them since Appa was taken. He knew it was because of him and his stupid accusations that Toph let Appa get stolen. It had taken him the day after to realize how stupid and wrong he had been, but he never had the courage to tell her that. Instead he had chosen to worry over Appa and going out to look for him. Now that he's been broken out of his worry, he's been trying to work up the nerve to say sorry to her. But by the Spirits, she was scary when she was angry. Just one wrong move and he would find himself buried up to his neck watching her crack her knuckles, getting ready to give him the worst beat down ever in history.

So understandably it was hard to work up that nerve.

He took note of the fact they were nearing the house and that there was nobody else on the street with them, so no one would be able to interrupt them. Or see the Avatar buried six feet under he thought belatedly. So gathering the courage he didn't feel he spoke up.

"Hey Toph"

"Hmm"

"I- I want to say that I-" Unfortunately he never got to say a word as a slab of earth was hurtling towards him.

He jumped into the air quick enough to only get a tear in his clothing. When he landed back to the ground, he immediately took a defensive position, staring at a horde of drunken men in front of him. One in the front, an earthbender, spoke up.

"So you're the *hic* kids causing trouble, eh" He drawled.

Toph turned around to face the horde. "You looking for it" She cracked her knuckles.

Aang knew he couldn't prevent this fight as the men were no doubt going to chase after them if they ran and Toph.. well Toph was looking for a distraction like this.

"Hah! Very funny kid but what can an itsy *hic* bisty little girl like you do to us?"

"I thought you'd never ask" she grinned and summoned four walls of earth to smash into the group.

The opposing earthbender managed to jump away from the attack, leaving the group behind to bear the brunt of the force. Most of them yelped having been struck while a few got away unharmed.

"Brat" the earthbender said with scorn as he sent a line of jutting rocks towards the blind earthbender. Toph snorted at the size of attack and deflected it off to the side. She would've crushed him with a move of her own if the drunks behind him hadn't recovered and started going on the offensive. They ran passed her challenger, their vibrations hiding his, and came in a screaming wave at her. The blind earthbender sent two pillars up to two guys' chest and shot an arc of rocks wiping out the front row of the group. The rest continued to charge, ignoring the power displayed by the girl in front of them. Naturally Aang was concerned for his black-haired sifu and wanted to go and help, but instead he found himself dodging a wild swing. He immediately countered with a gust of air which knocked his foe back, but discovered that some of the people facing off against Toph splintered off to go after him.

While Aang was annoyed with the turn of events, Toph was having fun with the idiots in front of her. Almost a whole bar-full of people were coming after her and she dispatched them with ease. She sent them flying to the walls, sunk some of them to the floor, and crushed a couple of their egos. All in all she was having a good time.

But that cowardly earthbender was getting on her nerves.

He would send a couple of stones at her before retreating to another location. The worst part was that a couple of his attacks actually managed to hit her. Toph would've trapped him in a prison of rock before knocking him out with one punch to the face, but he kept hiding himself somewhere in the mass of the horde, his vibrations mingling and disappearing among the others. She growled as another rock zipped past her, grazing the side of her cheek. He better know he isn't getting out of this fight without a few things broken.

Well his number was up seeing as how most of her opponents laid on the ground twitching and unconscious, no doubt with bumps and bruises on them, while the rest were spread out and unable to provide the cover the other earthbender needed to escape her sight. The next time he struck he would find himself in a world of pain.

Suddenly she felt a gale pass by her. She could "see" that most of the men were caught off guard and flew away in the air, leaving a few of them struggling to stand the winds. All except one that was hiding behind a crumbling wall of earth. As wind swept up the others one by one, she immediately encased the earthbender in rock and waiting for the wind to die. She slowly walked up to the struggling prisoner until she was right in front of him.

"You little brats, don't think this is it! I'll get you for this!" He spat out.

"Yeah, yeah, like you actually can." And with that she punched as hard as she could. His eyes bulged from the force of her fist as the layer of rock broke apart, leaving him to hold his stomach before keeling over.

Toph felt the airbender walking closer to her. "I can take care of myself Twinkle toes." She stated, her voice tinged with contempt.

Aang for his part held up his hands, "I know that Toph".

"Then why get in my way"

"Well I don't think the Earth King would like any more damage done to his city" He gestured to rupture street, the broken walls, and the earth jutting from the ground.

Toph merely snorted.

The monk just rubbed his eyes, "Look Toph the Dai Lee are more than likely coming to investigate the place, can we just leave."

"Fine"

And with that they ran the rest of the way back home.

_-3- Third Day -3-_

It was late at night while the Avatar was lamenting how he lost his chance to apologize to his friend. He laid on his bed, the blanket long forgotten on the mattress' corner, as he thought about earlier that night. He was so close to telling her he was sorry, if only he had let Toph take care of those three guys from before there wouldn't been anyone there to interrupt him. Now he had to wait until tomorrow to build up the courage again to tell her he was sorry. Who knew if she would even accept his apology anyways? It's been so long since that day in the desert and Aang didn't think that Toph was the type of person to forgive so easily. He sighed; he didn't like her being mad at him though, it always made his heart hurt a little whenever he thought about it. It was one of the reasons why he chose to think about Appa instead. Having had enough thinking for tonight, Aang tried to go to bed.

But he couldn't.

He turned left and right in his bed, laid on his back and on his front, used his hands as a pillow and even tried to meditate for a bit to see if that would help him fall asleep, but none of those worked. He was so busy in his efforts that he failed to notice that his bed made little creaking sounds, something that wouldn't be heard by the average person, but to someone with heightened sense that would be a different story…

His instantly stopped what he was doing when heard the door to his room slam open, revealing a very irate Toph. He squeaked in fear and made a hasty move to dive under the bed but a strong hand caught his leg before he could cram himself there. He was thrown from the floor to the back wall for his troubles.

"Are trying to get on my nerves" she seethed.

He frantically waved his arms around from his spot on the floor. "No, no, no, no I would never do that!" he cried afraid of meeting her fist.

"Then keep it down!" she turned around to exit the room.

"Wait!"

He froze, why did he call out to her, did he want to die!

Toph turned around in an angry huff as she regarded the airbender in front of her.

"What"

He was scared, more than he was a few minutes ago when she had him by the leg, this, he felt, was a do or die moment. He could only sit there and watch the black-hair girl as she looked at him.

"Well, I'm waiting." She growled out dangerously.

He starting sweating and started to speak.

"I- I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry Toph."

He looked at her straight in the eyes, looking for any sign of imminent danger.

"Sorry," she said "sorry for what?"

"For blaming you for what happened to Appa, I'm sorry that I accused you of that." He didn't plead for her to forgive him, he didn't think that he deserved to plead for her forgiveness.

Toph stood there, her expression blank while Aang was still on the floor waiting for her answer.

A few minutes passed before she spoke.

"Fine"

"Wha"

"I said fine, but don't think I forgive you just yet. I mean it took you this long for you to say sorry to me, that's low Twinkle toes."

He only bowed his head in shame "I know."

She walked up to him, making him raise his head to look up her, curious on what she planned on doing. She crouched down to his level and punched his arm, hard.

"OW!" he said holding the spot with his hand, a bruise already forming no doubt.

"That's for making a lady wait" and with that she left him alone in his room.


	4. Chapter 4

_Day 4 Family_

"Hey Toph"

"Yea Twinkle toes?"

"Do you miss your family?"

Toph felt her body tense at the question. She knew what the boy lying beside her was going to do and she didn't like it. She wasn't one for emotional talks and there was no way she was going through this one again.

"Nope" She tried to sound casual to make him believe that nothing was wrong and so there was no need for this conversation.

"Are you sure?" He didn't buy it.

"Yep"

Aang became silent, almost long enough for her to believe that he had given up on the subject. It seemed he was thinking of a different approach.

"I miss the Air Nomads, I think about them every day" he spoke with tenderness.

Toph didn't say anything but she was listening with interest.

"Our life style was simple: we'd go from place to place, meeting new people and different cultures. I've even had friends in every nation like Bumi and Kuzon."

"The crazy earth king Bumi?" Toph interrupted curious.

"Yep" he answered with mirth.

With that Toph decided to remain quiet; interested in hearing more of his life.

"Every Air Nomad would always return to a temple, it didn't matter which, we were all one people. The kids like me never got to travel alone, we were always accompanied by an older Nomad to guide us through the nations. Whenever I got back to the Southern Air Temple, I would be bombarded with lessons from the older monks. Most of it was boring, reading the history of the Air Nomads, learning basic math, and learning the customs. The only things I really enjoyed were reading and the air bending lessons when I first took them." She couldn't see, but she knew he was smiling the whole time.

"The monks were very strict with the lessons, expecting everyone to be on time and to do their huge amount of homework all before it was due the next day!" His voice had adopted a whine to it and she could "see" that he was moving his hands in front of him, almost asking "why!" with them.

"After out lessons were done, me and friends would always play a game or do a contest about who could pull the best prank on the older monks. We'd always get into trouble in the end, usually by breaking a vase or something with a ball or by getting caught by the monks in the middle of our pranks. Then we'd run, run as fast as we could, laughing and teasing whoever was following us if we pranked them."

Her friend became very quiet, she could just feel the sadness coming off of him.

"I miss those guys." His voice held the deepest grief Toph ever heard from anyone and for some reason she felt a little pang in her heart, it hurt...?

But then he continued.

"I miss Monk Gyatso especially; he was my guardian in the Southern Air Temple but he was more like a father to me. He taught me air bending, gave me lesson about the world, and he was always fun to be around with!" Aang yelled with a happy gleam in his eye. She almost smiled at the change in Twinkle toes' mood.

"I have so many memories about him, all of them good." Aang then gave a laugh. "I'll always treasure the time when he was making pies while listening to me about my day. It was a very frustrating day, I had a lot of things on my mind and I looked to Gyatso to somehow make things better. And he did, he set down the last pie asking me to help him with them. He had this smile on that told me we weren't going to be eating them, instead we air bended them one by one on a couple of monks on the ground below us. You should've seen them Toph, they looked so funny yelling at us with cherry pie cream for a wig and banana dotting their mustaches." The air bender chuckled remembering that time.

"He really was the best though. The best guardian, best teacher, air bender, pranker, friend, and dad I could ever hope for." His eyes glistened with unshed tears.

Monk Gyatso sounded like a really cool person she would've liked to meet. He sounded almost like Uncle.

"I could only imagine what he must've felt when I left the Air Temple. I don't want him feel hurt or betrayed by me. And you know what, I never got to tell him good bye. " Finally one slipped through, tracing the side of his face as it fell.

"He was the only person in the Temple to actually see me as more than just the Avatar, the one who was to stop the Fire Lord from taking over the world, he saw me for who I am, a kid. Kind of like you Toph."

The earth bender who had remained silent for the time being, felt flattered for being compared to one of the closest, if not THE closest person, to Aang. Toph had also wanted to yell at the kid for thinking that Gyatso would feel betrayed. She may not be a hundred and twelve years old like Aang here, but from what she could tell from his descriptions of his guardian is that he would've understood why he ran. What sensible parent would think that their kid is ready to take on a fire-breathing tyrant when he's only twelve years old!? But she said nothing, feeling a bit awkward at him showing his emotions so painfully clear. She was never good at these kinds of things, but she didn't think hitting the kid would lift his mood.

She opted to place a hand on his shoulder, even if she refused to look at him. Just how did this get from him trying to get her to talk about her parents to him talking about his family?

Twinkle toes turned his head to stare at her and she didn't know it but he smiled.

"I'm okay Toph" he placed his hand over hers.

The blind earth bender quickly took back her hand as if she was touched by fire. "Alright then.." she could feel heat rushing to her cheeks.

They were silent underneath the sun's gaze as he looked at her for a few minutes before returning to look at the cloud, still waiting to see if she would talk. Toph on the other hand still kept her face away from his, dealing with something strange going on with her. Her heart was racing slightly faster and she didn't know why it was doing that. Was she sick?

Aang's voice cut in the middle of her thoughts.

"What about having a family, you know finding someone you want to spend the rest of your life with raising a child with?"

That quickly brought Toph back to her element.

"No, I plan on kicking butt and taking names," she snorted "besides I doubt there'd be a guy that I'd be interested in."

"Really?" Aang asked incredulously. "You doubt want to be in love with anyone?"

"No, why? You thinking about wooing me?" She turned her head to flash a grin at him.

Aang sputtered "Wha, What!"

"Relax Twinkle Toes I know you got a thing for Sugar Queen" Toph laughed.

He took a bit to calm down from her previous joke before answering her.

"I don't anymore."

The earth bender sat up in surprise.

"What do you mean you don't anymore!"

"Just like I said, I don't have a crush on Katara anymore." He shrugged.

"Your heart raced like million times per second when she walked by you, how can you not have a crush on her anymore!" She exclaimed, her arms spread out in the air in disbelief of the information presented to her.

"I just moved on from her I guess."

"Hmm" she studied the boy in front of her, realizing he was telling the truth when she checked his heart as he said that. So Twinkle toes fell out of his crush with Sweetness? She didn't know how to feel about that… Wait what did she just think?!

Toph decided not to pursue the subject anymore not liking where it was headed and went back to lying on the grass. There was an uneasy silence in the air for Toph, like there was something left unsaid. She didn't like it.

"If I did have a kid" she began, "It would have to be a girl and she'd grow up to be tough and the second best earth bender in the world. And just so you know Twinkle toes she'd be able to beat your wimpy kid in a second."

Uncharacteristically Aang snorted. "I think you're wrong there Toph, my kid would be able to beat your daughter."

"You wish! My kid would be able to bend circles around yours."

"Yea cause that all she'd be able to do with earth bending when my son air bends her in a tornado!"

Here Toph now rested on her elbows, looking down on her foolish companion. "Oh yeah! My daughter would drop a mountain on your kid while he's running away like the scared air bender he is!"

"Oh yeah!" He's risen to his elbows now.

"Yeah!" her head inches closer to his.

"Yeah!" his head moves closer too.

"You want to bet on it!"

"Sure but don't try to pull out when you see my kid beat yours!"

"As if a little breeze could beat a boulder!"

Their heads are touching as they glare at one another, her sightless gray-jade eyes meeting his gray eyes. They eye each other for a few seconds before falling to the laughing.

Eventually they stop laughing and resume looking up at the sky.

"You're lucky that I'm never having kids or you'd be paying up thirty years from now Twinkle toes."


	5. Chapter 5

_Tattoos_

She idly traced them while he was in a coma, a grimy finger with a layer of dirt tracing the arrows from his back to his head, from his shoulders to his hands. She heard what they signify from their owner, that it was proof that he was air bending master among the Air Nomads, a master of his own element by the age of twelve, just like her. Her finger graced the back of his neck, eliciting a shake from him that no one but her could notice. She was told that the arrows were the color blue, the same color as the sky, and how it was those same arrows that most of the world had come to identify him by. The last air bender, the Avatar was recognized on sight by those arrows, like a sign that pointed out to his enemies that this was their target, their enemy. She wanted to crush the people who did this to him, make them pay for almost killing him. But she wouldn't leave his side, not until he was back on his feet and ready to take on anyone. Then she would be free to let her rage out.

Her fingers touched the crown of his head, feeling the wrinkles of his slightly scrunched eyes as they were soothed out of a nightmare. She was strong and he was strong she'd admit, so how come he felt so fragile underneath her touch? She knew he came close to dying, but he got better, he got better even though it was a fatal strike, Katara made sure of that. What kept him from speeding up the process? She could only sigh in frustration as her fingers ran up and down the arrows.

The arrows they also signified another thing that Katara and Sokka told her: they glowed whenever he was in the Avatar State, a sign that he was at his strongest. Why didn't the Avatar State protect him from Azula's lightning? She didn't know, she just knew that things would've gone differently if she were there to back him up. Sparky's sister wouldn't have been able to do that to him, she'd have made sure of that.

She was tracing where the arrow starts on his shoulder idly wondering just how much burden did he carry on them. Did he know he wasn't alone, that he had his friends to help him out? She didn't think too long on the matter, she'd simply beat it into his head if he thought otherwise. She traced the sides of his arm, mildly impressed with the muscle she could feel, he was starting to feel like an earth bender than some jelly-boned air bender. When she reached the back of his hand, she marveled how gentle it seemed and sometimes she'd wondered if their hands would fit perfectly against each other…

She knew she felt something more than just friendship with him, why else would she feel this way, why else would she feel this pain in her chest. She didn't know what to make of her feelings, they were so confusing right now. She'd normally march out and take on anyone who upset her, but she finds herself sitting here waiting for him to be okay again. What was she feeling? She didn't like this, being worried over someone this badly, as though she might become lost without him. She wasn't the girl her parents thought of her, weak and dependent on others, she was strong, she didn't need someone to be her strength.

He'll wake up, she knows he will, but for now she'd trace the arrows from his back to his head, from his shoulders to his hands.


End file.
